Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Joseph Gringlas - January 14 & 22, March 18, 1993

Mm-hm.

See, I told you they were politically or murders in there and there were Germans Kapos, so he worked for one of the Kapos, made him those head special for them, a tailor and sewing with the hand. And they made him a little bit like a little coat from the uniform, they had uniform like we, but they had a coat, like a little thin coat on. So he worked for one of the Kapos and one and I worked on a Kapos and he knew he--the Kapo knew he was my brother. And I was working in that--it was, pushing those co...those little, little wagons you put out, you were loading on the wagons. And I don't know, he suddenly came to me with one of the shovel, hit me right on my head--I was bleeding. And I said, "Son of a...," he knew my brother, is my brother and my brother worked for him. So what happened my brother worked for him and he got some more rations. The German Kapos got more food. So if somebody did some work with him they would give some piece of bread. So my brother shared with me whatever, you know, he got.

So he hit you.

So--but I was ??? and I came back at night, in evening, but, would you believe that he hit me so hard I was bleeding. And you worked for--he knows he work with me, he knew it was my brother, so there was no feeling between at all.

H...how did you--when did you first see him, at?

I went--you know some friends, when we came I told you when we came from Birkenau to Buna, some friends from my hometown came to my brother and they told him they saw, they saw me. So he arri...he came to the barracks when I he....

He found you.

I was assigned--he found me, yeah.

So what it was like when he found you?

It was like, like in the movies, like you can't believe it that you found somebody from the sky came down. But he was all crying, crying because he knew what happened to my family.